Abstract Body
Background: The occurrence, fate, and transport of PFAS in the environment is understood, but the contribution of drinking water to serum PFAS concentrations in humans is poorly defined. Methods: We examined data from a prospective pregnancy and birth cohort (HOME Study) in Cincinnati, Ohio. We quantified PFOA and PFOS in sera of 227 pregnant women at 16 weeks gestation between 2003 and 2006. Tap water was collected from the participants’ homes within one month of blood collection. We mapped serum and tap water PFAS concentrations using ArcGIS and examined clustering via spatial hotspot analyses for each participant. Results: The median (range) of PFOA serum concentration in pregnant HOME Study participants between 2003-2006 was 5.4 (0.5-24.5) ng/ml, which is over twice the geometric mean serum concentration of 2.4 ng/l as measured in a representative sample of pregnant women in NHANES 2003 and 2004. Median PFOA drinking water concentrations in samples collected from participants’ homes were 3.7 ng/l in 2003, 4.5 ng/l in 2004, 6.4 ng/l in 2005 and 11.0 ng/l in 2006. For each doubling of water PFOA concentration, serum PFOA increased by 0.6 ng/l (95% CI: 0.02, 1.20) after adjusting for water source type (bottled/filtered vs tap water). For every doubling of water PFOS, serum PFOS increased 0.95 ng/l (95%CI: -0.10, 2.00).Conclusions: Drinking water is an important contributing source of PFAS exposure in pregnant women. This research adds to the literature, helping to delineate the relationship between drinking water and circulating serum concentrations of PFAS in pregnant women.
The views expressed in this abstract are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. EPA.